The hype surrounding Vernon Adams Jr. started before he even came north.

The B.C. Lions owned the Oregon quarterback’s negotiation list rights in the spring of 2016, and then Montreal Alouettes general manager Jim Popp surrendered a first-round draft pick to acquire those rights. It was a ridiculously high price to pay, although the third overall selection, receiver Danny Vandervoort, didn’t pan out for the Leos.

Adams didn’t exactly light the CFL on fire, either.

The Pasadena, Calif., product made three garbage-time starts for the Alouettes at the end of the 2016 season and was traded to the Roughriders midway through the 2017 campaign. The Riders then used him to land defensive end Charleston Hughes in a trade with the Tiger-Cats in February 2018. The Tabbies released him at the end of that year’s training camp and the Alouettes brought him back a week later, but he basically wallowed in obscurity once again, swallowed up in the wake that was the...